Mental Health Care: Absconding and Missing Patients

​​Absconding is a major patient safety issue for people with mental illness because of the potential increased risk of harm to self or others when an individual leaves the care environment.

Generally, absconding refers to an instance where a person in care cannot be located within the treatment unit and that person’s whereabouts are unknown. Although absconding can take place in many different care settings, this module focuses on the absconding of individuals under care in a hospital setting.

This module will teach you:

Individual, clinical, and treatment factors that may contribute to the occurrence of absconding